Human health deserves a much higher priority

Wednesday

Jan 27, 2010 at 2:00 AM

Does Rep. Will Smith, Rye/New Castle, not know the difference between a human body and a car body? It seems not, since he writes: "Not allowing insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions will encourage people to defer insurance until they get sick, much as a similar constraint on auto insurance would cause people to insure only after they they've had an accident."

Jan. 22 — To the Editor:

Does Rep. Will Smith, Rye/New Castle, not know the difference between a human body and a car body? It seems not, since he writes: "Not allowing insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions will encourage people to defer insurance until they get sick, much as a similar constraint on auto insurance would cause people to insure only after they they've had an accident."

Evidently, he takes a benign view of insurance company practices such as "cherry picking" only the healthy, and pre-emptory cancellation of coverage for those who make the mistake of getting sick. Denial of auto insurance usually comes after something like multiple DWI convictions. The offender can no longer drive, but can carry on. On the other hand, persons who can't get or afford health insurance die in significantly greater numbers than their insured brethren. Is it too much to ask that we provide care beyond the ER for the human bodies who have been shut out of the market or tossed out when they lost their jobs or could not afford arbitrary premium increases?

Robert Mennel

Portsmouth

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